Level of satisfaction during mammography screening in relation to discomfort, service provided, level of pain and breast compression Aud Mette Myklebust a, *, Therese Seierstad a,c , Erling Stranden a , Anners Lerdal a,b a Department of Health Sciences, Buskerud University College, P.O. Box 7053, NO-3007 Drammen, Norway b Aker University Hospital, Research Centre, Oslo, Norway c Department of Radiation Biology, Insitute for Cancer Research, Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway Received 3 March 2009; received in revised form 5 August 2009; accepted 30 September 2009 KEYWORDS Breast cancer; Screening mammography; Satisfaction; Pain; Compression Abstract Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to identify the factors having the largest influence on the patients, experiences of mammography screening and if these factors can be generalised for different centres. Material and methods: Three-hundred-and-ninety-three women attending mammography examination during two randomly selected days at four screening centres in the Southern Health Region of Norway were approached. A questionnaire designed to survey socio-demographic vari- ables and their experience with mammography screening was distributed upon attendance. The answers to the questionnaire were related to the level of breast compression which was recorded for every patient. Statistical analyses were performed to assess women’s satisfaction, discomfort and level of pain during mammography screening. Results: Eighty-two percent (324/393) completed the questionnaire. Ninety-one percent were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with the service at the mammography screening centres. Still, 80% reported high level of discomfort related to the examination. ‘Moderate’, ‘strong’ or ‘intense’ pain during breast compression was reported by 25% of the women. Mean breast compression ranged from 8.5  1.2 kg to15.7  2.2 kg. In all, 23% of women experienced strong and intense pain at a compression of more than 16 kg, while none of the women experienced strong or intense pain for compression less than 8 kg. Conclusion: Our results concur with earlier studies showing high level of satisfaction among Norwegian women undergoing breast screening. The present study clearly demonstrates that the level of compression is vital to the patients’ experience of pain, but do not seem to influence their level of satisfaction with the procedure. ª 2009 Euro-med Congress for Radiographers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ47 32 86 31 23; fax: þ47 32 20 64 10. E-mail address: aud.mette.myklebust@hibu.no (A.M. Myklebust). 1756-1175/$36 ª 2009 Euro-med Congress for Radiographers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ejradi.2009.09.003 available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: http://ees.elsevier.com/ejradi European Journal of Radiography (2009) 1, 66e72